Oltretorrente Colli Tortonesi Rosso 2023

After several years working for more conventional wineries, Chiara Penati and her husband Michele Conoscente started Oltretorrente in 2010 with the purchase of 1.5 hectares of vines..  Both agronomists from Milan who had worked all over Italy, they had several ideas about where to create their own reality and decided on the sleepy village of Paderna, set in the hills of the Tortona region (Colli Tortonesi) in southeast Piedmont, where there are only 30 estates bottling wine.  The name Oltretorrente means “Beyond the Stream,” in reference to the Scrivia, a tributary of the Po River, but it could be interpreted as “Countercurrent.”  Today, the estate covers 7.5 hectares. They farm their land organically, but use some biodynamic methods as well. Since they acquired the vineyards, they have worked to restore natural soil fertility by planting grass in soils that were hoed for many years; they did a thorough analysis of the soils of their 10 different parcels to determine which plants are the most beneficial to these sites.  They harvest the fruit from each of their parcels separately to preserve the characteristics of each. 

Sourced from all the estate's red grapes that are not directed towards the Barbera Superiore.  The vines were planted between 1955 and 1990. The blend is comprised of a majority of Barbera and Dolcetto, but co-planted throughout the vineyards there small amounts of Croatina, Freisa, Slarina, Brachetto, and Aleatico, which all make their way into this wine. The extra varietals add a darker more brooding character then you typically see in stand-alone barberas, resulting in a a punchy, dark wine.